Tuesday, March 18, 2014

I love getting new art supplies. After hearing so many wonderful things about Posca Paint Pens, I decided to give them try. They aren't easy to find, so I was happy to see them on Amazon. I ordered a set of 8 fine tip pens and received them within a few days.

The pens are amazing. They easily glide over a variety of surfaces such as wood, canvas, paper, and glass. So far I have only used them on watercolor paper and canvas. The colors are vibrant and the ink flow is smooth. Even though they are "fine" tipped, I think I would also like to have the extra fine tip for writing words....adding them to my wish list now!

Here are a few of the mixed media journal pages I've completed using the pens....

Posca Pens used for outlining flowers and drawing symbols. Iused a Sharpie pen to do the writing at the lower left corner.

On this page I primarily used the white posca pen for highlightingand details.

Both pages were created based on lessons from the Life Book 2014 class (lessons by Alena Hennessy and Tamara Laporte). Since I am still working on the 29 Faces Challenge (even though it is finished!), I am counting the girl on the swing as face #10.

Work in progress on canvas...posca pens used for outlining and addingshapes...I'll post the final pic when it is completed.

I can definitely say that if you are thinking about purchasing Posca Pens, they are well worth the investment. I love mine!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

So...last weekend I was making some awesome veggie burgers using my Vitamix. It's one of my favorite recipes from the book, No Meat Athlete, and I make it often. While I was cooking I was busy chatting with my husband and working away in the kitchen when I realized I had left out the dry ingredients. I added in the oats, stirred a bit with a spoon, and placed the container on top of the Vitamix base. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the spoon out of the container before turning on the blender!!! (It was somewhat hidden in the oats. AGGHHHH!) What followed was pretty much a disaster and the result was one ruined Vitamix, a spiky spoon, and a dinner down the drain. I ended up making sandwiches instead and feeling like an idiot...not to mention wondering how much this was going to cost to fix.

I called Vitamix the next day and explained my dilemma. To my great surprise, the customer service representative told me that my machine would be fixed at no charge! I've had my Vitamix for almost 8 years and haven't had any problems, so she said they would honor my warranty (even though it was my fault) and fix it for me. Wow. Incredible customer service. They sent me a UPS label and I mailed it this past Thursday.

Repair time? Two-four weeks. Hmmm. I needed something to help in the kitchen until my Vitamix returned, so I decided to purchase a food processor to use in the meantime. I researched my options, and decided to try a Ninja. Amazon had a decent deal and a few days later the Ninja arrived at my door. I unpacked it, washed it, and had it ready to use by this afternoon. I decided to see how the Ninja compared with my Vitamix for making veggie burgers. (My husband kindly reminded me to avoid blending a spoon this time! Metal shards and veggies don't mix well. HA!)

This model has removable blades, a motor on top, and one speed for pulsing ingredients. It comes with two different sizes of containers. Blending is okay, but the items on the bottom were blended more, while the items higher up were more chunky. This worked out fine as we both liked chunks of carrot, nuts, etc. in the burgers. Of course, since this is my first time using it, there may be tricks I am not aware of yet to better blending throughout the container.

Once the ingredients were mixed, I formed them into patties and browned them in a skillet. My photo didn't turn out well of that process...my sister said they looked gross! LOL...so I decided not to share. I really should work on my photography skills! I have a "real" camera, besides my iPhone, but often times just grab what's easy. Learning to take better photos is on my summer "to do" list.

Super Power Chia Bread....mmmmm. Great for open faced sandwiches, nutbutter spread, or even plain. Delicious!

In addition to making the burgers, I also made Super Power Chia Bread from Angela Liddon's online recipes! This is the second batch that I've made in the last couple weeks and I'm in love with it! It's easy, it tastes amazing, and it's healthy. For lunch, I added a layer of homemade pesto, the veggie patty, sprouts, and tomatoes.....MMMMMMM. Loved it.

LUNCH! Chia Bread + veggie patty + more veggies = :)

Even though I'm missing my Vitamix, I think having the Ninja as an additional tool in the kitchen will work out just fine. Tomorrow I'm hoping to try the Ninja to make Pumpkin Pie Smoothies. I'll let you know how that turns out!